Video: This microreactor is a MARVEL
S. Himmelstein | April 16, 2021Interest is increasing in microreactor designs that offer a compact source of energy for applications ranging from electricity production to water purification. To help accelerate the deployment of microreactors, the U.S. Department of Energy is building one of its own to help researchers and end users understand how these systems can integrate with other technologies. The Microreactor Applications Research Validation and EvaLuation (MARVEL) project streamlines this development process for industry partners and will provide a dedicated location for them to quickly test, develop and demonstrate new technologies.
MARVEL will be installed and operated at U.S. Idaho National Laboratory’s Transient Reactor Test as a 100-
The MARVEL reactor concept with Stirling engines. Source: U.S. Idaho National LaboratorykW thermal fission reactor based on an existing design and technology. Researchers expect the sodium-cooled reactor with natural circulation cooling and an operating temperature of 500° C to 550° C to be fabricated and started up within two years. With a two-year core life, the microreactor will be fueled by uranium zirconium hydride fuel pins using high-assay, low-enriched uranium from existing research supplies and capable of generating about 20 kW using Stirling engines.
The MARVEL test platform will be used to establish authorization, qualification and validation processes for microreactor technologies. Reactor capabilities in balancing grid demand and reactor power supply while supporting a range of applications such as integrated renewable energy systems, water purification, hydrogen production and heat for industrial processes will also be evaluated.
MARVEL should prove of value in developing autonomous technology to achieve optimal operation and supporting end users in testing specific reactor components for remote monitoring and autonomous control, including sensors and instrumentation for live data collection and wireless transmission.
I am very pleased to see this technology emerge....now if I can just get one for my flying car and house...
Fill 'er up!
The article conveniently omitted as to how the waste is to be disposed. Will it be safeguarded by humans for the next 50000 years? 10000 years?
In reply to #2
It could be recycled as fuel...
In reply to #2
I'd say this is off-topic. Nuclear waste is a different issue that is extensively covered elsewhere. Much of the problem is political, not technological. We could reprocess the waste to get the plutonium-239 produced by neutron absorption, but politics prohibits it. We could separate out the long-life radioactive elements to reduce the volume of long-term waste, but politics won't let it be considered. We could just fuse the whole mess into large pieces of glass and bury it under Yucca Mountain, but again, politics won't permit it. The technology exists, but so does a significant amount of superstition about radioactivity, along with understandable concerns about having a reprocessing facility next door.
But all of that is separate matter from the achievement of a "micro-reactor." We shouldn't demand a solution for the waste issue also as a condition of giving credit for this development.
In reply to #4
No. Every project must be evaluated from the time it comes from the earth to the time it returns to the earth. The project must not leave any long lasting harm to the earth. Leaving highly radioactive waste around for 50000 years definitely leaves harm to the earth. How could anybody believe humans could keep this waste safely for 50000 years? With all the recycling of the spent rods, there's always some super radioactive material left that must be guarded for 50000 years.